Rotary internal combustion engine

ABSTRACT

An internally toothed gear member cooperates with a pair of axially spaced side walls to define a chamber in which an externally toothed rotor is disposed, the rotor having one less number of teeth than the gear member and movable with its axis moving in an orbit around the axis of the gear member and rotatable on its own axis during orbital movement. A crank shaft is journaled in the end walls on the axis of the internally toothed gear member and has a crank portion on which the rotor is journaled on its own axis, the teeth of the rotor moving successively into and out of meshing engagement with the internal teeth and slidably engaging the teeth when out of meshing engagement, the teeth cooperating to divide the chamber into successively expanding and contracting compartments. Valves operate to control intake and exhaust flow of gases to the compartments, and ignition is provided for gases in given ones of the compartments.

[ Oct. 21, 1975 54] ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE [76] Inventor: James B. Meaden, 3009 Norwood,

Slayton, Minn. 56172 [22] Filed: June 14, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 369,997

[44] Published under the Trial Voluntary Protest Program on January 28, 1975 as document no.

Primary Examiner-C. J. l-lusar Assistant ExaminerLeonard Smith Attorney, Agent, or Firm- Merchant, Gould, Smith, Edell, Welter & Schmidt [57] ABSTRACT An internally toothed gear member cooperates with a pair of axially spaced side walls to define a chamber in which an externally toothed rotor is disposed, the rotor having one less number of teeth than the gear member and movable with its axis moving in an orbit around the axis of the gear member and rotatable on its own axis during orbital movement. A crank shaft is journaled in the end walls 'on the axis of the internally toothed gear member and has a crank portion on which the rotor is journaled on its own axis, the teeth of the rotor moving successively into and out of meshing engagement with the internal teeth and slidably engaging the teeth when out of meshing engagement, the teeth cooperating to divide the chamber into successively expanding and contracting compartments. Valves operate to control intake and exhaust How of gases to the compartments, and ignition is provided for gases in given ones of the compartments.

1 Claim, 9 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct.21,1975 SheetlofZ 3,913,533

ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE SUMMARY OF THE INV N ION The present invention relates to rotary internal combustion engines, and has for one of its objects the provision of such an engine which is simple in design and which involves a minimum of moving parts. Another object of this invention is the provision of an internal combustion engine which can be made in compact form and which is highly efficient in operation and durable in use.

In the accomplishment of these objects, an engine is provided which involves a housing including a relatively stationary internally toothed gear member and a pair of end wall members secured to the gear member and cooperating with the gear member to define a chamber in which is disposed an externally toothed rotor having one less number of teeth than the gear member. The teeth of the rotor are disposed to move successively into and out of meshing engagement with the teeth of the gear member and to have sliding engagement with the gear member teeth when out of meshing engagement. A crank shaft is journaled in the housing on the axis of the gear member, and includes a crank portion within the chamber on which the rotor is journaled on its own axis. The rotor is movable in an orbit in the chamber, its common axis withathe crank portion moving in a circular orbit around the axis of the crank shaft, while the rotor rotates on its own axis. The teeth of the gear member and rotor cooperate to define successively expanding and contracting compartments in the chamber during the rotary and orbital movement of the rotor. Fuel intake and gas exhaust valves communicate with given ones of the compartments, and an ignition device includes spark plugs for igniting gaseous fuel in the compartments. A pair of cams mounted on the cam shaft for rotation therewith, operate the intake and exhaust valves.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in end elevation of a rotary internal combustion engine produced in accordance with this invention, some parts being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a view inside elevation of the engine of FIG. 1, some parts being broken away;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section taken generally on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary detail corresponding to a portion of FIG. 3, some parts being broken away;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view in perspective of a cam plate of this invention;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are enlarged fragmentary details in section, taken on the lines 7--7 and 8--8 respectively of FIG. 4;

and FIG. 9 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The engine of this invention includes a housing having an inner peripheral wall formed to provide an internally toothed gear member 1, an outer cylindrical wall member 2, and plate-like generally circular end wall members 3 and 4 that are suitably anchored to the members 1 and 2. The gear member 1 is formed to provide circumferentially elongated curved teeth 5 which, for the purpose of the present example are six in number, the gear member 1 cooperating with the wall members 3 and 4 to define a chamber 6. Further, the gear member 1 cooperates with the. end walls 3 and 4 and the outer wall member 2 to define a coolant chamber 7. The end walls 3 and 4 are provided with aligned axial openings in which are mounted bearing bosses 8 and 9 respectively, these having mounted therein sets of rolling friction bearings 10 which journal axially spaced portions of a crank shaft 11, see particularly FIG. 5. The crank shaft 11 is formed to provide a crank portion 12 that is disposed within the chamber 6, the axis of the crank shaft 11 being disposed on the axis of the internally toothed gear member 1.

An externally toothed rotor member 13 has one less number of teeth 14. than the internal teeth 5 of the gear member 1, namely five, the teeth 14 corresponding substantially in outline to the wall portions between the teeth 5 of the gear member 1,.theseportions being indicated at 15. The portions of the rotor l3 between the teeth 14,. indicated at 16, have a curvature similar to the curvature of the teeth 5, as shown in FIG. 3. The rotor 13 further includesa plate-like body portion 17 and an axial boss 18 which carries a rolling friction bearing 19 that is mountedon the crank portion 12, of the crank shaft 11, the axes of the rotor 13 and crank portion 12 being identical.

The teeth 14 of the rotor l3-move successively into and out of meshing engagement with the teeth 5 of ;-the gear member 1, and have sliding engagement with the teeth 5 when outuof meshing engagement therewith. The rotor 13 is adapted to .rotate on its own axis while partaking of orbital-movementwithin the chamber 6, the axis of the rotor 13 movingin an orbit around the axis of the crank shaft llywherebyto impart rotation to the crank shaft 11. In the arrangement illustrated, wherein the gear member luhas six teeth and the rotor 13 has five teeth, the axis of the rotor 13 and hence, the crank portion 12 of the crank shaft ll,v will orbit about the axis of the crank shaft 11 five=times for each revolution of the rotor 13 on its own axis. Hence, the ratio of revolutions of the crank shaft 11 to the revolutions of the rotor 13 is five to one. To counterbalance the offset relationship of the crank portion 12 and rotor 13 from the axis of the crank shaft 11, a pair of counterweights 20 are rigidly mounted on the crank shaft 11 at opposite sides of the crank portion-l2 within the chamber 6.

The axially opposite ends of the rotor 13, particularly the portions 16, are provided with axially outwardly opening grooves 21 for reception of elongated sealing members 22 that engage the adjacent inner surfaces of the end walls 3 and 4. The opposite ends of the peak portions of the rotor teeth l4 are provided with metallic caps or inserts 23 the opposite ends of which abut adjacent ends of the seals 22. Inwardly of the caps or inserts 23, the rotor teeth 14 are provided with openings 24 and radial slots 25 extending outwardly from each of the bores 24. A plurality of elongated flat seals 26 are slidably contained one in each of the slots 25, and have enlarged inner edges or beads 27 that are contained in the bores 24. As shown particularly in FIG. 8, the beads 27 terminate axially inwardly of the end caps 23, the seals 26 extending axially outwardly therefrom so that the opposite ends of the seals 26 may effect slid- .gagement with the innerperipheral surface of the gear member 1 by elongated leaf springs 28 in the bores 24, see particularly FIGS. 4 and 8. The caps or inserts 23 are yieldingly urged towards sliding engagement with adjacent ones of the end walls 3 and 4 by coil compression springs 29,.see FIGS. 4 and 7.

The gear member 1 and rotor '13 cooperate to divide the chamber 6 into circumferentially spaced compartments 30 which successively expand and contract responsive to orbital and rotary movement of the rotor 13. The gear member 1 is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced housing members 31 which define valve chambers 32 that communicate with the chamber 6 by means of openings 33 through alternate ones of the internal teeth of the gear member 1. The end wall 3 is bored to provide a pair of valve seat forming. openings 34 to each of the valve chambers 32. An intake manifold 35 is operatively connected to a conventional carburetor shown fragmentarily in FIG. 1 and indicated at 36, the manifold 35 communicating with intake valve openings 34 by means of fittings 37 overlying intake ones of the valve seat forming openings 34.

- gated valve stem 40 slidably mounted in an adjacent one of the fittings 37, one ,of the valves39 in each valve chamber 32 being an intake valve, the other thereof being an. exhaust valve. The valves 39 are of conventional design used in internal combustion engines, and

are yieldingly urged toward valve closed position by the usual-valve springs 41 interposed between the fittings 37 and stop flanges41 at the outer ends of the valve stems 40.

Means for operatingthe valves 39 comprises a cam plate 42:that is keyedor otherwise rigidly secured to an extended -portion.43 of thecrank shaft 11, as indicated at 44..The cam plate'42;isformed to provide anintake valve cam 45 and an'exhaust valve cam 46 that are positioned to cause operation of the intake and exhaust valves. An annular support plate 47 is disposed in axially offset concentric relation to the cam plate 42, and is mounted on the housing end wall 3 by means of a plurality of circumferentially spaced mounting screws 48 and tubular spacers 49, see FIGS. 2 and 5. The support plate 47 is formed to provide a plurality of circumferentially spaced bearing brackets 50 on which are pivotally mounted the intermediate portions of radially extending rocker arms 51 and 52. The rocker arms 51 and 52 are provided at their radially inner ends with re spective rollers 53 and 54, the rollers being 53 being positioned to be engaged by the intake valve cam 45, the rollers 54 being positioned to be engaged by the exhaust valve cam 46, see F IG. 1. The radially outer ends of the rocker arms 51 and 52 are provided with tappets '55 that engage the adjacent outer ends of respective valve stems 40 to open the same responsive to rotation of the crank shaft 11 and valve cam plate 42. i In the embodiment illustrated, a'plurality of igniter elements in the form of conventional spark plugs 56 are mounted in the teeth 5 of the gear member 1, alter- 34 nately between-the teeth -5 {which contain the openings 33. The spark plugs 5 6 are disposed within radially outwardly extending tubular members-57, that are welded or otherwise rigidly' secured at their inner ends tothe gear member 1, and-have" sealing engagement at their outer end portions with mounting flanges 58 bolted or otherwise rigidly .secured to the outer cylindrical wall Oper ation Assumingthat the rotor 13 .is rotating in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3, rotation will be imparted to the crankshaftll in a clockwise direction with respect to FIG. 3, both as shown by arrows therein. During such movement, when a given compartment 30 is contracting during its communication with a given pair of openings 33, the. timing is such that the exhaust valve 39 associatedtherewith will be opened and gases of combustion will be exhausted outwardly through the exhaust manifold 38. Then, as the given compartment 30 expands, while still in communication with the same given pairs of openings 33, the exhaust valve 39 will close and the intake valve 39,associated therewith will open to permit gaseous fuel to be drawn intothe expanding compartment 30. From thence, during continued movement of the rotor 13, thegiven compartment 30 will contract as it moves into communication with one of the spark plugs 56 to compress the-gaseous fuel. Then, as the given compartment 30 begins to again expand, the spark plug associated therewith will ignite the gas. The resulting combustion of the gas impels the rotor 13 in its orbital movement The spark plugs 56 are timed to ignite the'gases in their respective compartments 30 generally at the time of greatest compression of the gases within their respective chambers. In

the arrangement shown, atotal number offifteen explosions will occur in the engine during one complete revolution of the rotor 13 on its own axis. Bearing in mind that the crank shaft 11 rotates on its axis at the rate of five revolutions for, each single revolution of the rotor, three explosions in the chamber 6 will occur for each revolution of the crank shaft 11. 7

With the arrangement illustrated and described above, I have been able to produce an engine which is extremely smooth in operation and which produces relatively high speed crank shaft rotation with relatively low speed of orbital or gyratory movement of the rotor. Further, the present design permits of a highly simplified valve operating mechanism, by doing away with a separate cam shaft and gearing for driving the same.

While I have shown and described a commercial embodiment of my rotaryinternal combustion engine, it

will be understood that the same is capable of modification without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

c. an externally toothed rotor member journaled on said crank portion coaxially therewith, said rotor member having one less number of teeth than said gear member, said rotor member being disposed for rotary movement on its own axis and for orbital movement in said rotor chamber with the common axis of said rotor member and crank portion describing an orbit about the axis of said crank shaft; d. the teeth of said rotor member moving successively into and out of meshing engagement with the internal teeth of said gear member and having sliding engagement with said internal teeth when out of meshing engagement therewith to define therewith alternately expanding and contracting comments. 

1. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising: a. housing means including an internally toothed gear member having an even number of teeth and end wall members connected to the opposite ends of said gear member and cooperating therewith to define a rotor chamber; b. a crank shaft journaled in said housing means on the axis of said internally toothed gear member and having a crank portion disposed within said rotor chamber; c. an externally toothed rotor member journaled on said crank portion coaxially therewith, said rotor member having one less number of teeth than said gear member, said rotor member being disposed for rotary movement on its own axis and for orbital movement in said rotor chamber with the common axis of said rotor member and crank portion describing an orbit about the axis of said crank shaft; d. the teeth of said rotor member moving successively into and out of meshing engagement with the internal teeth of said gear member and having sliding engagement with said internal teeth when out of meshing engagement therewith to define therewith alternately expanding and contracting compartments responsive to said rotary and orbital movement of the rotor; e. alternate ones of said internal teeth having openings therein for entry of gaseous fuel to said compartments and for exhaust of gases of combustion from said compartments; f. valve means controlling intake flow of gaseous fuel to said compartments and exhaust flow of gases of combustion therefrom; and, g. igniter mEans mounted in said internal teeth alternately between the teeth containing said openings for igniting gases of combustion in said compartments. 